No Churn Coffee Ice Cream

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I absolutely love to make ice cream. When I make ice cream I feel extremely Martha Stewart. (Or in this case, Nigella Lawson.) I normally go the traditional route – make a custard, cool it, churn it in the ice cream maker, re-freeze it. It is rewarding, but it takes forever, sometimes up to 2 days. So when I was watching Nigellissima and saw Nigella make No Churn Coffee Ice Cream in about 10 minutes, I was intrigued. How can this possibly work? She whipped some cream with some sweetened condensed milk and voila! Well, not only does it work, but it is the softest, creamiest, ice cream. It is incredibly good. The key is the Kahlua. I know that I am going to get the, “can I omit the alcohol question?” and in this case, the answer is no. You need the alcohol because it prevents crystals from forming and is what gives the ice cream the creamy, silky, texture. Also interesting, she put this ice cream inside of a brioche bun and make a burger out of it. I put mine on top of the Chocolate Olive Oil Cake.

So this recipe got my brain going, I can think of about a million different flavors I can make from this base recipe. I think that vodka would work well in most flavors because you can’t really taste it. But salted caramel, coconut, lemon, chocolate, vanilla bean, toasted almond, see where I am going here? And you don’t need an ice cream maker. Amazing.

I also want to thank you for the kind comments about my friend post. Not only were you loving and supportive, but so many of you are in a similar situation. Turns out a lot of us are feeling like we need some friendship in our lives. After I wrote that post, I decided that I really needed to walk the walk. I ended up going on a few friend dates this week, and you know what? They were awesome. I met some great people, stepped out of my comfort zone, and feel like I should have done this ages ago. I think the main lesson that I have taken away is that I need to make an effort. Sometimes it can be a lot easier to sit in the comfort of my own home and complain about feeling disconnected. When in reality, if I am feeling disconnected, it is up to me to make that change. All I needed to do was put myself out there a little. I know that friend dating can be awkward, but it is totally worth it in the end. I also realized that the girl sitting next to me in the doctors office, or waiting for daughter at gymnastic is probably feeling the same way, My advice – chat her up. She might just be the Cristina to your Meredith.

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 Tablespoons coffee or espresso liqueur (Kahlua or Tia Maria)
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

Add the sweetened condensed milk, instant espresso powder, and liqueur to the bowl of an electric mixer.

Mix until combined.

Add the cream.

Whip until it reaches soft peaks.

Pour into an airtight container and freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

Scoop and serve.